Sunday, March 02, 2014

Insult to the men and women in blue

Only yesterday we commemorate the gallant men in blue that died in battle at Lahad Datu to defend the nation from a foreign threat. It pains us today to hear the news that the police is lowering it's entry requirement and offering a higher pay scheme to entice Chinese to join the force.

It shows insensitivity on the part of police management to existing police, irrespective of race, already serving dutifully with commitment and dedication. They entered the force despite the low pay and repeatedly not achieve their desired pay increment from government to commensurate with their authority, responsibility and risk.

It is also an insult to the serving force that government could discriminate and bent backward to accommodate the majority Chinese whose never considered a profession public service and in particular security as priority.

Will this mean that the Chinese new recruit will be given special passage to fill up higher position for the sake of filling up position and not on merit as happened in organisations like Petronas and MAS?

If so, it is inconsistent with the practise of meritocrasy which is strongly advocated by certain liberal quarter of government.

LOW-RANKING OFFICERS: Force hopes to take in 5,000 members from the community

THE police have relaxed; conditions relating to recruitment, apart from studying numerous aspects of improvement in its service to attract more Chinese to join the force.

It also hopes to recruit 5,000 Chinese as low-ranking officers beginning this year.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said police would review areas related to salary, promotion opportunities and others to entice the participation of the Chinese.

"We are targeting about 5,000 Chinese in stages."

Bakri said this after the 2/2013 series Cadet Inspector Course Passing Out Parade Ceremony at the Police Training Centre in Jalan Semarak here yesterday.

He said the number of Chinese police personnel currently made up only 1.87 per cent of the force.

He said the force had also formed a special team to ensure the participation of the Chinese could be implemented as soon as possible.

"The team will explain to the public, especially the Chinese community, on the benefits of joining the force. This is to ensure we get suitable candidates."

Bukit Aman Management Department director Datuk Seri Fuzi Harun said the force viewed seriously the boosting of Chinese participation as the community made up about 30 per cent of the population.

"So far, less than two per cent had joined the force. It does not look good, so we have to improve this figure by relaxing the entry requirements."

Bukit Aman Personnel (recruitment) assistant director Assistant Commissioner Saiful Azly Kama- ruddin said recruitment exercise for new police constables for the first session of this year would be carried out tomorrow.

He said requirements relaxed included a pass in Bahasa Malaysia at Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia level.

"We understand the entry requirements before this were too stringent for the Chinese community, such as a credit in Bahasa Malaysia, as there are those who are not fluent at all," he said in an interview themed "2014 Special Recruitment Exercise for the Post of Constable" to encourage the community to join the force here yesterday.

According to Saiful, the relaxed requirements were necessary because the current membership ratio of the force was imbalanced among the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other races.

"Based on statistics, as of Dec 31 last year, membership was dominated by the Malays (90,156 people), followed by the Indians (3,659 people) and the Chinese (1,974 people). The rest were made up of other races."

He said the lack of Chinese participation was because of several reasons, including salary, which was regarded as low. Parents also did not encourage their children to join the force.

"According to a study, most do not realise that a constable can bring home RM3,000 a month, with allowances included."

For the recruitment tomorrow, interesed Chinese candidates are encouraged to download the application form from the force's website at www.rmp.gov.my.

After the form has been filled out, it should be sent to the nearest police station or the Personnel Recruitment Unit at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.- Bernama

Relaxed entry

The Bernama report did not mentioned the better deal offered to new Chinese recruits in which both side of the political divide are working hard to entice their vote with endless list of concessions.

A youth's chest being measured by the police recruitment team. - Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: Entry requirements into the police force will be lowered during a campaign by the police to recruit more Chinese into the force starting tomorrow.

Bukit Aman assistant director of personnel (recruitment) Asst Comm Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said there were currently only 1,974 Chinese among the 111,395 personnel making up the nation’s police force.

“One of the biggest issues is that those who apply do not meet the requirements of having a credit for SPM in Bahasa Malaysia. So now, only during this campaign period, applicants with only a pass in SPM Bahasa Malaysia can apply.”

Another requirement lowered, said ACP Saiful Azly, who is heading the task force set up for Chinese recruitment, was allowing those who wore spectacles and contact lenses to apply.

“This does not, however, mean that the quality of the force is being lowered,” he stressed.

Once recruited, said ACP Saiful Azly, the applicants would be trained and tutored in areas they were lacking in to maintain standards.

“Applicants who do not have a credit in Bahasa Malaysia will be tutored and they will have to retake the test until they get a credit in the subject. We will guide them every step of the way,” he said.

The campaign, which will be launched tomorrow, is aimed at increasing the number of Chinese policemen in the country, especially for rank-and-file positions like constables.

ACP Saiful Azly said the Chinese only made up 1.77% of the force, which was a very small fraction for the country’s second largest ethnic group.

“The disparity is worse in the rank-and-file positions,” he said during a briefing about the campaign at Bukit Aman here. He described the statistics as “worrying”.

“We believe that the force should reflect Malaysia’s diversity,” he said, adding that the campaign ends on April 30.

ACP Saiful Azly said the idea for the campaign was not only to encourage Chinese youths, aged 18 to 28, to join the force but to make it easier for those who did not meet the requirements.

ACP Saiful Azly said studies carried out by the task force found that there was a misconception and stigma tied to being a policeman among the Chinese.

“Firstly, it is a low-paying job and does not offer a good career path. This is untrue as the salary of a constable with an SPM qualification is about RM1,700, which is quite reasonable.

“This amount will then be supplemented by other allowances and perks which can bring the salary to as high as RM3,517,” he said.

Despite the low number of Chinese policemen, ACP Saiful Azly pointed out that most of them were mid- to high-ranking officers, which showed that the force did indeed offer good career paths.

“We will be going all over Malaysia during this campaign period to change this misconception,” he said.

Those who wish to apply can download the form from www.rmp.gov.my or walk in at one of the campaign roadshows.

Resentment

If money is the limiting factor to attract new recruits, then government should raise the salary and perks of the whole police force in order to attract applicants of all races without discriminating existing members of the force, which also include Chinese, Indians and many other races.

It is heard that the Chinese recruit are offered a higher salary scheme. This has already affected morale within the existing members of the force. The higher salary scheme means the new Chinese recruit is more appreciated and valued than the existing members of the police force.

Whenever police and other public servant seek a review of their salary package, in which given the wider responsibilities and complex manner of their duties deserve to be at par with corporate sector, government's usual excuse is budget constraints.

This announcement of police will only increase resentment against Chinese. It is most inappropriate and a misplaced gesture in attracting Chinese support for government and votes to the BN ruling party.

Such premium given to Chinese is giving the wrong signal.

Although Chinese claim to be a higher tax contributor by virtue as their wide involvement in business and commerce, the reality is the bulk of tax contribution came from Bumiputera run GLCs and Chinese controlled corporate sector contribute only 10% of tax income.

Sektor strategik sebegini jangan sama sekali dijadikan alat utk menarik
sokongan cina. This is not a smart move but indeed it shows we are
getting desperate to gain the chinese favour...this is wrong..

Inconsistent

Currently, members of the police force is discouraged by certain actions of government that not only burdened their work but have made public order and security untenable.

Since the cancellation of the ISA and EO coupled with the release of Simpang Renggam ISA detainees, it has made it difficult for police to prevent crime and the sloppy decision has given rise to hardcore crimes. Without EO, the nation is open to economic sabotage and subversive threats.

At a time when addressing crime is a priority, government had curtailed the smooth functioning of the police force.

Many could not understand the need to give Chinese new recruit the special exemption of only a pass in Bahasa Malaysia. It will only result in poor quality of work since government department and agencies like police use the national language as medium of instruction.

The lowering of standard is not only an insult to the generally Malay members of the force but to existing non-Malay members of the police force that met the minimal requirement.

The police is giving a wrong signal to the nation with respect to the national language as inscribed in Article 152 of the Federal Constitution. Malay is the national language but police top management or the Minister is implying that national language policy is dump in the rubbish can and Chinese competency is elevated in the civil service.

With the relaxed Bahasa Malaysia requirement and higher pay scheme, the new Chinese recruit are brought into the police force. Will there be demand for these Chinese new recruits to be given easy passage for promotion?

If so, it will be a similar occurrence as in Petronas in which capable top Managers and Engineers were purged to make way for Chinese into the high ranks of Petronas. It was an exercise of having Chinese for the sake of having Chinese and not to fill up the position with competent and capable staff.

The lack of self esteem in Malay Government top political leaders and government servants in their race have resulted in Petronas making "coward" and unstrategic actions. Having Chinese does not mean raising competency of the organisation.

When Dato Idris Jala was heading MAS, he sacked 3,000 staff and only to rehire 3,000 newbies of mostly Chinese. The result had been disastrous and many left upon realising they are unable to meet the mark. Those remained rose to Manager rank and contribute to hold back MAS's turnaround.

It is competency and experience of it's people that make the organisation. Not so much to do of whether there are sufficient Chinese or not. At a time, Chinese owned companies are discriminating the employment of Malays, the police force is unreasonably welcoming.

Seldom occurs that Malays in the top echelon of administration and management are blurred by their own prejudice to their own race and easily fooled into believing the stereotype that Chinese equates with competency.

Capability and competency has to be judged on the individual and not the race. Many Malaysians irrespective of race had rose up the ranks of the police based on their capability and competency.This new policy will proliferate into log term disastrous impact over unsure short term political gain.

If this is the new attitude of the top rank of police or instruction by some empty vessel superior, then the police top management will eventually fell into that same trap of stereotyping which only leads to rising incompetency throughout the police force.

These Chinese police personnel will use their ''expertise'' to go against the government, especially with DAP behind them. The Chinese in M'sia are nothing but commies. This is free training for them on how to handle arms etc. The M'sian govt is more nice and I am sure these new recruits will go higher unlike in S'pore where the Malays are being discriminated in the defence of the country.

This is really too much! how can we even consider a candidate to be a Policeman if they cant converse and read Bahasa fluently? And how can the Government discriminate in pay and in entry requirement? Where is merit?

The Government is no longer logical.... it is becoming a weak Government.

It is wrong to lower entry standards for Chinese to enter the PDRM. Sadly, it is fact that Chinese view entry into gomen service as a dead end owing to overwhelming Malay majority but lowering of standards will not change the perception either. We have seen the lowered varsity standards produced unemployable graduates and in the PDRM case we may end up with duds wearing its uniform. Speaking as a Cina apek who served (a few years) in the SB.

Finally, a post that makes sense of this relaxed attitude to achieve a target that doesn't make sense. Why do want to have a racial target for the security forces? We all know, only a small percentage join the forces because of interest, a lot more because of their patriotic spirit and the balance is because of the already relaxed requirement. To further lower the requirement is an insult not only to the men and women in blue but also an insult to the posistion of the national language.

If any indication is to be measured, DINTURTLE's site clearly saw respondents to his short poll that,

PM has to be PURGED!

The situation has become bad to worse in the upper echelon of UMNO in trying to appease the cinabeng, the logic of the jungle comes into play. And in doing so further marginalising the anak-watan (melayu-muslim-bumiputera).

Must be REAL 'BRAIN' DROUGHT in the Top Brass to come up with such ideas, if we can call it ideas. Sure there is no better way to attract the chinese by giving further concessions???

And Affirmative Action in trying to alleviate the malay-muslim-bumiputeras suffering from inequality in standard of living is seen as 'structured discrimination' by the cinabeng???

those who are not fluent at all," he said in an interview themed " and yet they want to be Bangsa Malaysia. Better employed 40000 Bangladeshi as Police and pay them Ciput of course with the right to vote!-

This government's incompetence is peaking day by day. Now that the police have invited money incentives to recruit chinese to police force- and prepared to lower standards- its a further evidence of the government's and police's 'impotence'. Malaysia will be first country where its police officers will go to the front lines only if they get multiple increment. Studipidity is abound in a government running out of intelligent leaders and empty vessels gate crashing

And who will say that they are patriotic, that they are not going to sell M'sia to China or even Singapore? Do you think you can trust them if M'sia goes to war with China or Singapore? Who will they kill first? Of course lah, they will kill the Malays first!! Don't believe me, just check online comments from them. I have never seen them really patriotic towards M'sia, but full of adoration for anything S'pore or Motherland Cheena.

We constantly hear that non Malays cannot speak Bahasa fluently. The only way to settle this is to have annual Bahasa Speaking Contest, open to all students including Malays, at the national level for those who finish Form Five. My only condition is that The Panel Of Judges must come form an independent source, and if need be from outside the country.

We don't need stupid ungrateful and unpatriotic (yes, they're because they can't even speak or understand the national language properly) people who join the malaysian ROYAL police force just simply because of money!!